Eye for an Eye
by Sibilant Whisper
Summary: Sasuke has performed his duty as an avenger. But what a price to pay...


Authoress: Lady Dusk -Raku-

Title: Eye for an Eye

Pairing: None really…less you want it to be.

Warning: Character death. Lack of sanity. Not Uchiha friendly.

Summary: Sasuke has performed his duty as an avenger. But what a price to pay…

Disclaimer: I _wish_.

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**Eye for an Eye**

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Naruto didn't know why he'd woken just after dawn, immediately fleeing from the camp of his Anbu squad and heading in the direction that he had last heard Sasuke's squad was in. They were only miles away from Konoha; a tighter routine Anbu search in response to rumors of A-class shinobi lurking in Fire country. He and the Uchiha had taken charge of one team of ninja, split into two to lessen numbers and detection.

None of this, however, explained why Naruto pushed as much chakra as he could into leaping from branch to branch at a frantic pace, the growing sense of trepidation in his heart swelling with every beat. The thought of his team noticing their missing captain never crossed his mind, or that they could very well be already on his trail. He didn't have the time to think about it. Something was wrong, terribly, inexpressibly wrong. The second the strong scent of blood hit him, that thought increased tenfold.

He'd nearly burst through a clearing when the logical, Anbu captain in him made him take cover in a tree first.

_There could be enemies still around. _He narrowed his cerulean eyes at the prospect. Just who exactly that possibility would turn out bad for, he didn't know. Naruto felt out the area with his chakra, not sensing any unknown presences. He dropped down carefully from his hiding place, not prepared for the sight before him despite his years as a ninja.

He took in the scorched and battered landscape of trees, broken bodies and foliage. Anbu, bearing the leaf village emblem were strewn all over, yet there wasn't as much blood from them as he feared. With relief, he found most of them to be either severely injured (meaning they could possibly be saved), or unconscious. There were still casualties, he sadly noticed, continuing along the path of destruction. As the scent of blood grew stronger, the damage became heavier. Trees were charred black, all but piles of ash. Large areas of ground were shattered from destructive blows and blazing techniques. Sasuke had fought one hell of an opponent, and this only served to worry him more.

His throat was dry.

"Sa-Sasuke?" he rasped, wincing at how weak he sounded. Only this bastard could make him this sick with anxiety. He received no answer to his call, and he grew impatient with worry. "Teme…this is your superior! Answer me, damn…it…" he trailed off, the rest dying on his lips. Sasuke was a few yards away, a path of broken forest leading up to where he sat, slumped against a tree trunk, unmoving.

Naruto froze, urging his heavy limbs to move. He was a _shinobi_. He faced death all the time. He shouldn't be surprised if…the thought was abruptly pushed aside, as he walked towards his friend. Naruto was only two feet away from him when he finally noticed it. A few feet from Sasuke, was a corpse. It was beyond identifiable. Blood seemed to surround the area, splattered in different directions, ways and amounts. The body was charred in a similar fashion to that of the forest, lying in a pool of crimson and tendrils of smoke still rising from it. Sasuke must have killed his opponent, before burning them beyond recognition. Something caught his eye, and he noticed a tree still in flames to the right of him. His eyes widened.

_Black _flames. There was only one point in his life where he had seen black flames such as this. Realization slammed into him hard enough to leave vertigo. _Itachi_ was…could Sasuke have…? His mind couldn't comprehend. He threw a confused look at his friend, although the teen was in no shape to answer. Blood coated Sasuke's fingers and hands, though with the split knuckles he could make out he didn't know whose it was. His Anbu mask lay beside him, cracked in two. Naruto slid his own upwards to reveal his face; crouching down to shake Sasuke's shoulder.

"Sasuke?" The Uchiha didn't stir, his head still lowered. "Sasuke." He repeated more firmly. "Wake up, what happened here? Is…is that Itachi?" He was afraid to ask, yet as if a magic word, Sasuke reacted. But not how he expected. The avenger's shoulders started to shake violently, and he raised his head slightly. Naruto bit back a gasp. More blood stained his face, mixing with the tears that slowly ran down his cheeks. His coal black eyes stared straight through Naruto; as if he weren't even aware his best friend was there. Naruto reached out cautiously towards his face, avoiding one dangerous gash close to his eye that still bled.

"Captain!" One of his subordinate's voices reached him. He turned to see his team behind him, checking bodies and judging the task of who could be rescued, who to heal, and whether to risk taking any bodies back or destroying their secrets now as protocol. One of the female Anbu stepped up to him. "Captain, are you alright? What happened here?" Naruto gave a shuddering breath, ruffling his golden locks. He glanced at the Sharingan user once more, to find him still staring ahead.

"A tragedy," he replied, serious and solemn. "Round up the bodies. Destroy the remains of that carcass; it's useless to us. We can make it to Konoha within a few hours. Let's move."

They made it to back to the Leaf village with record speed, Naruto immediately heading toward the Hokage tower. Sasuke hadn't made a sound since they had set off. He hoped that whatever was wrong with him, Tsunade baa-chan could cure it. He shifted the male higher onto his back, bounding across the rooftops.

He made it to the tower quickly, asking if someone could alert the Godaime to his return. Tsunade was there at once, thinking that the boy she loved as a brother had been harmed. She took one look at Sasuke and ushered them into an examination room.

"How did this happen?" She asked, looking into the immobile boy's eyes. Naruto sat in a chair, raking a hand through his hair as he recalled how he had found him and everything he saw. Tsunade nodded as he told it, trying every procedure she could to make Sasuke respond. There was something about his eyes, but she couldn't put her finger on it. Nothing was telling her why he was like this, from what Naruto had told her. Said ninja grew somber, his eyes hard.

"Tsunade baa-chan…the corpse was Itachi's." he said quietly. She nodded slowly.

"I know…from what you told me, I figured as much. It's possible that killing his own brother had the unfortunate backlash of trauma." The sannin picked up Sasuke's hands to heal the split skin on his knuckles, and noticed one was clenched tightly. She tried to pry it open, but Sasuke's fingers didn't budge. Another failed attempt, and she exerted a bit of pressure into it until they finally loosened. Two round objects fell from his hands and hit the floor, rolling until they came to a stop, revealing two bloodied mangekyou sharingan staring up at her. She gasped and stumbled back.

Naruto looked at her in concern. "Oi, what's--" He followed her gaze to the floor, and paled, speechless. There was silence in the room, except for Tsunade's heavy breathing as she calmed herself. Her hands shook, and she looked straight at Naruto.

"I think I know what happened to Sasuke." She looked at the nineteen-year-old avenger, a mixture of pity, sympathy, and sorrow etched onto her face.

Naruto remembered everything from that day. How he had refused to accept what Tsunade told him, argued vehemently that Sasuke would be all right. He was too strong to stay in that condition. Yet, despite everything she tried, or the specialists they referred to, nothing could be done. He'd felt so weak, a failure in aiding his friend. There was no one to be angry at but himself, because Itachi had been killed, and he refused to even think of finding another to blame. His down spell hadn't lasted forever of course. Life had forced him to move on.

He strode down the hallway; his heart heavy like it always was on these trips. Halfway there, he noticed someone had quietly fallen into step with him. It was Sakura. Her reaction had been worse. She'd refused all work and missions, locking herself in her home in a fit of sorrow. Not even Lee could comfort her. Everyone tried their hardest to support one another, and she too, eventually had to face facts. He gave a smile that didn't fool either of them, and spoke to her:

"How is he?" It was always the same question. She would give the same answer:

"There's no change…as usual." He nodded. They stopped at a room where a nurse was just leaving; she spotted them and gave a short bow.

"Hokage-sama, Haruno-san." With that she left, pushing her away her cart. They stood outside the door, Naruto hesitating only a moment before biting the bullet and entering first. It was like Sakura had said, he hadn't changed.

His raven hair was regularly cut short, and didn't suit him like his old hairstyle did. His skin was paler than ever, and there were rings under his eyes despite the nutrients and food fed into him through the thin tube in his arm. Everything else was the same as well. He laid in bed, eyes staring at pictures only he could see. Images that tortured him day and night, that he couldn't escape. Results of the terrible jutsu that somehow stayed in effect after Itachi had died, trapping Sasuke in his own mind while he had to relive the most terrible events in his life again and again, not even aware that they were repeating, and no way to escape. This was Itachi's parting gift.

Sakura stood next to him, her eyes already glistening as they did whenever she came here.

"Sasuke…he'll make it through this, right Naruto?" she asked. Naruto stepped up the bed, taking one of Sasuke's hands in his own, squeezing it gently. He'd gotten too frail looking, not able to stay in shape or feed himself, he mused. He let go of his hand, leaving the last Uchiha, his best friend, to suffer as he stood and watched.

"…Yeah…he can make it." They both knew he was lying. Sakura nodded, more to herself than anything, and left, unable to bear the truth. Sasuke wasn't coming back. Naruto took his time leaving, wondering why they let him suffer so, and not end his torment for him. He realized though, that there was either no one willing to do it, or no one willing to let go of the faint hope that lived, so long as he did. He turned to his friend as he stood in the doorway.

"Sasuke…you may have killed Itachi…but…" he walked out, eager to rid himself of the depressing thoughts.

"…he took your life."

**-Owari-**

...Yeah. I know. Depressing much? I'd been working on this idea for quite a while, and I still don't think I got it 100 percent how I wanted, especially the execution. Ah well. Characters were tricky, so I'm very sorry if I screwed them up. There's lack of people involved directly 'cause more people, is more dialogue, more views, longer story that is no longer a one-shot. I'm quite eager to see how this one will do, so I am quite fidgety and nervous. (Also if you don't get what happened to Sasuke. Its pretty much just an idea of Itachi using his Tsukuyomi technique, Sasuke managed to get a fatal hit in at some point, and whatever happened in battle the results were that his technique stayed in effect permanently.)

If anyone ever feels they want to make a sister fic to this, like maybe write Sasuke's point of view and the battle with Itachi, just let me know.

-_LDR_-


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